Texas Medical Association (TMA) Uses DocSite PQRI to Participate in Quality Initiative
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RALEIGH, N.C., Sep 30, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — DocSite, the leader in patient registries and point-of-care decision support services to the healthcare market, today announced the Texas Medical Association (TMA) is offering DocSite PQRI(TM) as a free membership benefit to physicians participating in Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI.) The TMA is the first state medical association or society to offer DocSite PQRI(TM) to its members. DocSite PQRI allows participating physicians to satisfy PQRI requirements and qualify for incentive payments in just a few days with no administrative codes or claims data.
“PQRI is an important step toward evaluating healthcare with the goal of improving healthcare across the United States, but our members needed a way to participate that was cost-effective, simple and with minimal disruption to their practice,” said TMA President Josie Williams, M.D., a nationally recognized expert on improving quality in healthcare. “DocSite PQRI is a solution, and we are excited to partner with DocSite to encourage current and new TMA members to participate in PQRI and earn their well-deserved bonuses.”
TMA represents more than 43,000 Texas physicians and medical students. DocSite PQRI works equally well in a paper or electronic practice and enables every qualifying physician to participate using one of the four health conditions authorized under federal law. DocSite PQRI doesn’t require administrative codes or complex translations; instead, physicians only need to gather simple clinical data at the point-of-care and send it straight to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for 1.5 percent of the physicians’ total 2008 reimbursement for traditional Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) patients. Most physicians will satisfy their requirement within a week of starting the process, and for many, this will be the first time they have used automated clinical decision support or health IT in their practice.
CMS this year simplified PQRI reporting requirements and selected the best-qualified patient registries to submit clinical data on behalf of participating physicians. A significant change in 2008 has been authorizing certified registries to use clinical data instead of administrative codes for patient tracking and data submission. What was once a complex process that took an entire year to complete can now be completed within a week without administrative codes or conversions.
“We could not be more excited that TMA is participating in quality initiatives,” said John Haughton, M.D., M.S. DocSite Founder and CEO. “The use of DocSite PQRI helps physicians incorporate simple, effective and affordable patient care tools in their practice. We have seen that adding health IT solutions to a practice greatly improves outcomes in a paper and paperless workflow, helping streamline processes and improving the accuracy of patient records.”
About TMA
The Texas Medical Association was organized by 35 physicians in 1853 to serve the people of Texas in matters of medical care, prevention and cure of disease, and the improvement of public health. Today, with more than 43,000 physician and medical student members, TMA’s visionis still to”improve the health of all Texans.” TMA supports Texas physicians by providing distinctive solutions to the challenges they encounter in the care of patients.
About DocSite, LLC
DocSite ( www.docsite.com) is a clinical integration, connectivity and point-of-care technology company offering modular, upgradeable, Web-based tools that immediately improve the quality of care and save clinicians time. DocSite solutions give practitioners affordable, easy-to-use tools tied to evidence-based guidelines that reduce practice variation, enhance communication and support patient self-care initiatives. Thousands of physicians across the nation have already embraced DocSite products as the solution of choice for over 3 million patients. DocSite is endorsed by the Texas Medical Association and has been highlighted as a leader in chronic disease management systems/registries by the Physicians’ Foundation for Health Systems Excellence. The firm works in partnership with independent practice associations, groups, health plans, hospitals and individual physicians to offer point-of-care, outcomes tracking, population warehouse and informed decision-making tools.
Source: DocSite, LLC
